Luciana Arrighi

Luciana Arrighi
Born1940 (age 83–84)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil[1][2]
Citizenship
  • Australian
  • Italian
OccupationProduction designer
Years active1965-present
Spouse
Rupert Chetwynd
​
​
(m. 1970; died 2021)​
Children2; including Monster Chetwynd

Luciana Maria Arrighi AM (born 1940) is a Brazilian-born,[2] Australian-Italian[a][3] production designer. In 1993, she won an Oscar for Best Art Direction for the film Howards End (1992),[4] becoming the first Brazilian-born person to win an Oscar.[2] She also earned two more Oscar nominations in the same category for The Remains of the Day (1993) in 1994, and Anna and the King (1999) in 2000. In 2003, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Art Direction for the television film The Gathering Storm (2002).[5]

Career

Luciana Arrighi was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1940,[2][1] daughter of Italian diplomat and former journalist Count Ernesto Arrighi, and Australian Eleanor ("Nellie"), daughter of grazier Douglas Cox. Nellie had been a showgirl with J.C. Williamson Ltd, and later a model for Schiaparelli in Paris, and was distantly related by marriage to the novelist Patrick White (Her paternal grandfather's sister was married to Patrick White's great-uncle);[6] over the course of their long friendship they claimed "cousinhood".[1] Ernesto Arrighi was appointed consul at Melbourne in 1937, and met Nellie on a visit to Sydney. They married in 1939, and Ernesto was posted to Rio de Janeiro, where Luciana, their first child, was born. The family returned to Rome in 1943 before going to Nice on the French Riviera, and after the surrender of Italy to the Allies Ernesto was imprisoned by the Germans for "high treason" in 1943. On his release, he was given a diplomatic posting to Sydney, his wife and two daughters going ahead of him, but he died suddenly before being able to join them.[6][1]

Arrighi left Brazil with her parents when she was two years old and was raised and educated in Australia,[2] studying at East Sydney Technical College (now the National Art School).[7] She went to the United Kingdom, where she worked for the BBC; she was spotted by Ken Russell, who used her talents in some of his early films such as Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1966) and Women in Love (1969).[3]

She went on to study painting in Italy and she has also worked in costume design in theatre and opera, including with Vienna State Opera, Opera Australia and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden.[3] She lived in Paris for two years and was a model for French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.[3][8]

In 1993, Arrighi received the Silver Ribbon for Best Production Design Award and the Oscar for Best Art Direction for the film Howards End directed by James Ivory. She was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction for the film The Remains of the Day (1993), also by James Ivory, and Anna and the King (1999) by Andy Tennant. She won the British BAFTA Award for Best Art Direction for the television film The Gathering Storm (2002), directed by Richard Loncraine.[5]

Personal life

In 1970, Arrighi married Captain Rupert Milo Talbot Chetwynd (1934-2021), of the Grenadier Guards and 21st SAS Regiment, later an adventurer and founder of a medical mission to Afghanistan. He was a descendant of the 6th Viscount Chetwynd.[9][10] They had a son, Aaron, and daughter, Alalia, the artist Monster Chetwynd.[11][12] Arrighi splits her time between London and France.[3]

Filmography

Production design

Scenographer:

Costume design

Set and production design

Awards and nominations

Award Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
Academy Awards 1993 Best Art Direction Howards End Won [4]
1994 The Remains of the Day Nominated [13]
2000 Anna and the King Nominated [14]
Art Directors Guild Awards 2000 Excellence in Production Design for a Feature Film Nominated [15]
Australian Film Institute Awards 1979 Best Achievement in Production Design My Brilliant Career Won [16]
1982 Best Achievement in Costume Design Starstruck Nominated [17]
1998 Best Achievement in Production Design Oscar and Lucinda Won [17]
BAFTA Awards 1970 Best Art Direction Women in Love Nominated [17]
1993 Best Production Design Howards End Nominated [17]
1996 Sense and Sensibility Nominated [17]
2003 The Gathering Storm Won [5]
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists 1993 Best Production Design Howards End Won [18]
2000 Anna and the King Nominated [19]
Online Film & Television Association 1999 Best Production Design Nominated [20]
Primetime Emmy Awards 2003 Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special My House in Umbria Nominated [21]
2009 Into the Storm Nominated [21]
Satellite Awards 2000 Best Art Direction and Production Design Anna and the King Nominated [22]
Online Film & Television Association 1999 Best Production Design Nominated [23]
Women's International Film & Television Showcase 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award Luciana Arrighi Won [24]

Notes

  1. ^ Arrighi holds only Italian and Australian citizenship.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d David Marr: Patrick White: A Life, p.270
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lorentz, Braulio (3 March 2018). "Brasil já ganhou um Oscar? Luciana Arrighi nasceu no Rio e foi premiada: 'Minha estatueta é um pouco brasileira'" [Has Brazil ever won an Oscar? Luciana Arrighi was born in Rio and was awarded: 'My statuette is a bit Brazilian']. G1 (in Portuguese).
  3. ^ a b c d e "Luciana Arrighi Biography". lucianaarrighi.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  4. ^ a b "The 65th Academy Awards (1993) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
  5. ^ a b c "BAFTA Awards | Television Craft | Production Design in 2003". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Biography - Eleanor Douglas Arrighi - People Australia". peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au.
  7. ^ "30 Women You Should Know About", Sydney Morning Herald, 7 March 1998, Good Weekend, p. 16
  8. ^ Borrelli-Persson, Laird (11 July 2022). "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Is a Fitting Coda to the Fall 2022 Couture Season". Vogue.
  9. ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (16 December 2018). "Monster Chetwynd: 'I believe in keeping morale high. Depressing people stops them taking action'". The Guardian.
  10. ^ "Rupert Chetwynd obituary". The Times. 24 June 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Captain Rupert Chetwynd, soldier and adventurer who helped to run a medical mission to Afghanistan – obituary". The Telegraph. 9 June 2021.
  12. ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, p. 769
  13. ^ "The 66th Academy Awards (1994) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  14. ^ "The 72nd Academy Awards (2000) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  15. ^ "Art Directors Guild: ADG Awards – 2000 Winners & nominees". Art Directors Guild.
  16. ^ "AACTA Awards 1979". Australian Film Institute.
  17. ^ a b c d e "Luciana Arrighi | Awards". All Movie. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  18. ^ "Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists 1993". Mubi.
  19. ^ "Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists 2000". Mubi.
  20. ^ "4th Annual Film Awards (1999) - Online Film & Television Association". Online Film & Television Association.
  21. ^ a b "Luciana Arrighi - Emmy Awards Nominations". Emmys.com. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  22. ^ "4th Satellite Awards". FilmAffinity.
  23. ^ "4th Annual Film Awards (1999) - Online Film & Television Association". Online Film & Television Association.
  24. ^ "Luciana Arrighi - Brazil | The Lifetime Achievement Award (Film)". Women's International Film & Television Showcase.